Shoe filling machine



April 14, 1942.

w. N. BRAY ETAL 2,219,440

SHOE FILLING MACHINE I Filed Aug. 13, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 //Vl E/\/m5. v

, 6M MT 4 10a /5 Patented Apr. 14, 1942 SHOE FILLING MACHINE WilliamNeil Bray and Charles Martin'Bagshaw, Leicester, England, assignors toUnited Shoe Machinery Corporation, Borough of Flemington, N. J., acorporation of New'Jersey Application August 13, 1940, Serial No.352,438 In Great Britain August 24, 1939 8 Claims.

This invention relates to machines for filling the cavities in thebottoms of shoes, for example, the cavities which lie within the inseamin the forepart or the forepart and shank of Goodyear welt shoes.

After such a shoe has been lasted the weltattached and the inseamtrimmed, it is customary, prior to attaching the outsole, to fill thecavity flush with the top of the inseam with a plastic filling material,such, for example, as a mixture of ground cork and a binder, which mayor may not be thermoplastic and therefore require to be heated.

According to one feature of the present invention, the shoe is heldstationary with the rim of the cavity (the top of the inseam in a weltshoe) pressed firmly against a plate, and filling material is forcedinto the space beneath the plate. In the illustrated machine areceptacle for filling material is located above the plate, there beinga passageway leading from the bottomof the receptacle through the plate.The shoe is presented, bottom-side up, to the plate and clamped againstthe plate, and then filling material is forced from the receptaclethrough the passageway into the cavity in the bottom of the shoe.

With the construction described above, it is of course possible for thefilling material to flow out from beneath the rear end of the platethrough the gap which is present at that end; and,depending upon thenature of the plastic filling material it may be desirable to close thisgap. To this end there is provided, in accordance with another featureof the invention, a 1

dam which is brought down upon the bottom of the shoe to close this gap.In the illustrated construction this dam comprisesa series of fingerswhich extend crosswise of the shoe and are yieldingly mounted so thatwhen pressed against the bottom of the shoe they accommodate them-:elvestothe cross-sectional profile of said. bot- These and otherfeatures of the invention, in

cluding certaindetails of construction and combinations of parts, willbe described as embodied in an illustrated machine and pointed out inthe appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a machine in which the invention isembodied, part of a supporting column thereof being broken away; I

Fig. 2'is a. view, in vertical section on the line II-II of Fig. 3, of aportion of the machine; and Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the lineIIIIII of Fig. 2 showing the shoe bottom engaging fingers in engagementwith a shoe bottom.

The illustrated bottom filling machine has-aframe comprising a column Ito the upper end of which is secured a casting 3. Projecting up: wardlyfrom the'casting 3 are two spaced rods, oneof which (at the right of themachine) is shown at 5 in Fig. 1, the other of these rods being at theleft side of the machine and positioned behind the rod 5, as seen inFig. 1.

Secured to upper ends of the rods 5 and supported thereby is a plate I.A lower surface 9 of this plate provides a shoe bottom engaging surfaceand lies in a generally horizontal plane. Since, however, the forepartportion of a' shoe bottom usually is curved slightly convexly, bothwidthwise. thereof and lengthwise thereof, it is usually desirablethatthe surface 9 of the plate 1 should not lie accurately in one plane butshould be'slightly curved concavely both widthwise and lengthwise tocorrespond to the curvature of the forepart of the shoe bottom to beoperated upon. Mounted beneath the plate I is a shoe support in the formof a roll H of rubber or like resilient material. The roll II, the axisof which is horizontal and extends widthwise of the plate I, issupported on a stud l3 extending between upwardly extending I plates,spaced widthwise of the machine, one plate being shown at 15 inFigs. 1and 2, the plates being secured to a block I! threaded upon the upperend of a vertical plunger [9 which isslidable in a vertical bearing 2!in the casting 3. The plunger I9 extends below its bearing and its lowerend is forked. A horizontal stud 23, extending between the bifurcationsof the lower end of the plunger, has a metal roll rotatably mountedthereon. The roll 25 rides on the peripheral surface of a cam member 21which is rotatably mounted on a horizontalstud 29 fixed,-verticallybelow the plunger, in a plate 3| secured to one side of the casting 3and a narrower plate 33 secured to the other side of the casting 3. Thecam member 21 has fixed thereto and extending outwardly therefrom a handlever 35 of substantial length also pivoted on the stud 29. Thearrangement is such that anoperator, by depressing the end of the handlever remote from the cam member 21, may cause the'cam member to berotated in an anticlockwise direction as seen in Fig. 1 to cause theroll 25 to be raised, thereby causing the shoe supporting roll II to beraised. The roll II is normally in lowered position so that there isroom for the insertion of the forepart of a shoe S between the shoesupporting roll and the plate mounted thereon which cooperates withteeth 4| formed on an arcuate edge on the plate 3|;

the centerof curvature of which is the axis of the stud 29 about whichthe handlever pivots,

a spring 45 being provided tourge-said pawl into..

engagement with said teeth. Thepawl;39- serves, when the shoe has beenfirmly grippedposi tion as aforesaid to lock the hand, lever 35 in itsposition of pressure application-so that "the; op;- erator need notcontinue to exertpressure on the hand lever to maintain theshoevpressed. against the plate 1. The, pawl 39,has a handle 41projecting. therefrom by operationofwhich the pawl may be released from-the1teeth4| whenv it desired togremove-the shoe.- The illustrated shoeis.of .the Goodyear 'welt type, the cavity to.befilled lying withintheinseam 31 which constitutes the wall of the cavity, and thetop ofwhich (assuming that theshoeyis bottom-side? up) forms the rim ofthe'cavity. In" the 'positions of .parts'shown'in Figs; 1 and 2, .theshoe; is securely held with the plate "I pressedfirmly against the topof the inseam. There is thus'a space between the forepart of thejbottomof the insole and within 'the'inseam; and it is into this space that'thefilling'material is forced, as will appear below. I

The plate] bears against the topsurfaceof spring-pressed fingers 5|which are mounted side by side in bearings in a thickened marginalportion 53 of the plate 1 extending across the shoe bottom at thelocality of the said gap. The fingers 5| are held in position in theportion 53 by'means of ,a-plate 54,.bolted to the portion 53, eachfinger being, capable. of individual vertical sliding movement in thesaid bearings. The lower ends of these fingers are beveled at 55 so thateach finger is adapted to engage the shoe -bottom-with more or less linecontact. Each finger 5| has ,an enlarged upper end 51 which is engagedbyaceshaped spring 59. The springs its finger downwardly. The maximum.down- T I .wardmovement of each finger 5| is limited by the engagementof its enlarged upper end 51 with the top of the bearings in which thefingers are the;wa1l-.3,'| around thegwhole ofythe forepart of theshoebottorm. The-shank portion; offa. shoe bottom; is; normally inclined.atan angle to theforepart and ifit is desired that the filling operationshould; extend some distance rearward of the junction betweenpthe'forepart and the shank portion, the'platelj may have a curved extension,(not shown) shaped to bear against the said wall at this.portion of'the shankas well asround the forepart. Whether the. shoe bottomcavitypis to be'filledatthe forepart only or whether a-shank portion isalso to be filled,

the said plate should bear ,firmly againstthe top of the wall or inseam3'l around, the portion 7 of the cavity to be ,filledjand by so doing,should serve to seal the cavity so as to prevent ,the .bottom fillingmaterial, when extruded under pressure into the cavity, from passingbeyond said wall. It will be, realized .that the said wall does notextend fully around'the. cavity to be filled since at the endof;thecavity remote from the. toe end of the shoethere will beagap,extending transverselyof the shoe-between. the plate 'I and the shoebottom whiclris notclosed by said, wall. It is not necessary in allcircumstances that this gap should' be closed, since it has ,been foundthat, if the .bottom filling material Iis,.extruded into the.cavity.39"at or. adjacent the toe end of the cavity, the material will flowadequately-to fill the.cavity upto said wallat the toe end and sidesthereof before it ,travelsrearward sufiiciently far'for itto begintoemerge. through said-gap. However, thereisprovided an arrangemenhwhichwill now be described,

for closing, at least themajor part of said gap to prevent the bottomfilling material exuding in substantial quantity through said. gapbefore the cavity hasbeen adequately filled. i I

This arrangement comprises a plurality of slidable. The, enlarged upperends 51.0f the fingers 5 l" are eachvertically, slotted at ,6 4; and

ahorizontalrod65 passes through theslots 64,.

the slots being ofsuflicientlength to allow each finger 5| 'to'havesomevertical movement ,without movement of the rod. The rod 65 is normallyheld, by-means hereinafter referredto, in an upward position and.thereby holds the fingers 5| in-raised; positions, sothat whena shoebottom is brought into engagement with the plate 1 the lower endsof thefingers do .not at that time engagetheshoeibottom. Means hereinafterdescribed is providedxby. which the rod'65 is allowed to descend beforetheextrud ing operation fills the bottom, cavity. The fingers.

descend under the action oftheir springs 59so that their lower endsengage the shoe bottom, along: a line; extending across, the shoe bottomat the rear'end of the'cavity 3,9.to be fl1led;and.

serve to close the gap aforesaid. Each finger will descend as far as itis permitted to-do by the portion of the shoe bottom with which itcontacts, and theindividual fingers will take up difierent levels,as'seen in Fig, 3, in accordance with the transverse curvaturepf theshoe, bottomalong the line of contact with the fingers.

thus closing the-said gap, in the case of shoes of difi'erent sizesorshapes, more eflectively than could be done by-a single. member. 7

The plate 1 'hasa member projecting up.- wardly therefrom, this member,being herein shown as formed integrally with theplate. In

this member is;f0rmed acylinder 61, the axis.

of which isvertical. .An aperture. 69 is provided in the member 65,which extends through the wall of the cylinder andenables a supply. of.

bottom filling material to be introduced, into the interiorofthe'cylinder, for. example-by means .of-a chute, Ill; .The cylinder, 61'isopen at its upper end, and movable innit isa, piston 1|, theupperportion of which is pivotally. connected to a hand lever 13.pivoted on a horizontal pivot 15 to an upwardly extending link." pivotedat its lower ,end to a lug lsonthecasting 3. The hand lever I3, isnormally held in, a raised position by means .of a spring 8| connectedto a rearwardly extending arm 83 .of the hand lever and to a hook 85 onthe casting 3.

When the operator depresses, this hand leverthe piston is lowered in,thecylinder. When the piston is at the upper part-of itsstroke it islocated above the aperture 63 'in the wallof the cylinder 61sothatfilling material can beintroduced into the cylinder below thepiston;

material below it. The bottom of the'cylinder is located a shortdistance above the low'ersurface 9 of the plate I but passages 81 leadfrom the bottom of the cylinder 61 through the plate 1 through whichpassages, when the piston is lowered in the cylinder, the fillingmaterial is extruded, and the extrusion under pressure of the fillingmaterial through them causes the filling material to enter the cavityand spread itself therein under pressure until it is pressed well upagainst the wall of the cavity within the inseam. Although the machineshown in the drawings is provided with a plurality of passages 81, ithas been found that in most cases the desired effect can be obtainedmerely by providing one passage which is located near to the toe end ofthe cavity. The filling material extruded through a passage sopositioned appears first to fill the toe end of the cavity up to thewall thereof and then travel rearwardly of the cavity, spreading to thecavity wall as it does so, until the desired filling has been effected.

It has been mentioned above that satisfactory results may be achieved inmany cases even though the aforesaid gap between the plate and the shoebottom at the rear end of the cavity is not closed. In such cases,assuming the filling material to be introduced at the toe portion of thecavity, the filling material appears to spread rearwardly in a frontextending right across the width of the cavity so that as it travels itfills the cavity across its full width and does not emerge from said gapuntil the whole cavity has been filled.

If, however, gap-closing fingers as already referred to are provided,they serve to ensure that no premature escape of a substantial amount offilling material takes place at said gap before the cavity has beenadequately filled. The rod 65 which passes through the slots 64 in theenlarged upper portions of the fingers 5| is supported by two links 9|(one at each side of the apparatus) from which links stems 93 projectupwardly. Each stem 93 passes through an enlarged bore in a horizontalrod 91 secured to the hand lever 13 by a bolt 99. Above the horizontalrod 97 each stem 93 has two lock nuts thereon. The arrangement is suchthat when the hand lever 13 is in its normal raised position thehorizontal rod 91, by engagement with the nuts |0|,

' holds the links 9| and therefore the fingers in a raised position.

Immediately the hand lever I3 is depressed by the operator to cause thepiston 1| to begin to effect an extruding operation, the links 9| areallowed to move downwardly, and the fingers 5| are permitted to descendto engage the shoe bottom and close the said gap. Conveniently, however,a gap I03 is provided between two adjacent fingers, the fingers beingspaced apart on the rod 65 by means of a washer I95, so that theoperator may determine when the filling operation has been completed asthis will be indicated by observing when the filling material begins toexude through such gap I03.

If the particular filling material employed is of the kind requiringheat to bring it into spreadable condition, the plate I and the member66 in which the cylinder 61 is formed will be maintained at the desiredtemperature by means of electric heating cartridges I01 provided in themember 66.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A-machine for operating upon a welt shoe to fill the cavity in thebottom thereof which is bounded, except at the rear, by the inseam, saidmachine comprising a stationary plate, a support adapted to engage "thetoe portion of the shoe,

means for causing the support to press the inseam into firm contact withthe plate, said plate having passing through it an opening thecrosssection of which is small compared to the area of the cavity inthebottom of the'shoe, a receptacle for filling material, said receptaclebeing carried by the plate and communicating'at all times with theopening, and means for forcing filling material from the receptaclethrough the opening and beneath the plate and causing it to flow overthe surface of the insole of the shoe and in so flowing to spread to theextent permitted by the inseam.

2. A machine for filling the cavity in the bottom of a shoe, saidmachine having in combination a plate, means for holding the platefirmly against the rim of the cavity, a receptacle for filling material,means for forcing filling material into the cavity beneath the plate,and means movable with respect to the plate into contact with the bottomof the shoe for preventing filling material from flowing out frombeneath the plate.

3. A machine for filling the cavity in the bottom of a shoe, saidmachine having in combination a plate, means for holding the platefirmly against the rim of the cavity, a receptacle for filling material,means for forcing filling material into the cavity beneath the plate, adam movable with respect to the plate and adapted to extend crosswise ofthe bottom of the shoe, and means for moving said dam into contact withthe bottom of the shoe to limit the flow of filling material toward therear end of the shoe.

4. A machine for filling the cavity in the bottom of a shoe, saidmachine having in combination a plate, means for holding the platefirmly against the rim of the cavity, a receptacle for filling material,means for forcing filling material into the cavity beneath the plate, adam of independently yieldable sections adapted to extend crosswise ofthe bottom of the shoe, and means for moving said dam into contact withthe bottom of the shoe to limit the fiow of filling material toward therear end of the shoe.

5. A machine for filling the cavity in the bottom of a welt shoe, saidmachine having in combination a receptacle for filling material, aplate, a support for engaging the toe portion of a shoe, means forcausing the support to press the inseam of the shoe firmly" into contactwith the plate, there being in the plate a passageway leading from thereceptacle into the cavity beneath the plate, and means for forcingfilling material through the passageway and for causing it to flowbeneath the plate into contact with the inseam.

6. A machine for filling the cavity in the bottom of a shoe, saidmachine having in combination a plate, means for holding the platefirmly against the rim of the cavity, a receptacle for filling material,a normally inoperative dam which extends crosswise of the shoe, andmeans for moving said dam into contact with the bottom of the shoe so asto limit the flow of filling material toward the rear end of the shoeand for forcing filling material from the receptacle into the spacebetween the plate .andthe bottom of the shoe.

7. A machine for filling the cavity in the bottom of a shoe, saidmachine having in combination a plate, means for holding the platefirmly against the rim of the cavity, a receptacle for filiing material,a normally inoperative dam which extends crosswise of the shoe, and asingle member actuation of which moves the dam into operative positionin contact with the bottom of the shoe and forces filling material intothe cavity.

8. A machine for filling the cavity in the bottom of a shoe, saidmachine having in combination a plate, a receptacle for filling materiallocated above the plate, there being a passageway leading from thereceptacle through the plate, a

toe gage for facilitating the proper presentation of a shoe bottom-side-up to the plate, means for forcing the shoe towardthe plate and forhold.- ing the rim of the cavity firmly against the plate, a normallyinoperative dam extending crosswise of the shoe near the rear end of theplate, said dam comprising a plurality of yieldingly mounted fingers,and means for pressing the fingers yieldingly against the bottom of theshoe and for forcing filling material from the receptacle through theplate into the cavity.

WILLIAM NEIL BRAY.

CHARLES MARTIN BAGSHAW.

